District D-Day, Henry Rescheduled Baptism, Solar Panels, Faces Leadership, and Carving Pumpkins: October 21, 2013

Hey family,

This week was one of the more unexciting missionary work ones. For P-day we had most of our district over because it was Columbus Day so most of the libraries were closed and ours was open. We mainly played games like Munchkins and Magic. Scratch that; that was all we played. We murdered Elder Martineau's character pretty bad. Then we helped this less active couple understand how to use their VCR.  It’s weird that they still have one.  They wanted us to set it up to record things on VHS tapes. Weird. We also saw 2 other less active members and watched a lot of Mormon Messages on a DVD that we have and sang at least 15 different hymns while Elder Barlow tried to find the tune to half of them and butchered the songs.

We did have some good things happen like we got in contact with this referral named Theodore who lives up this really steep hill. We had a lesson with Shirley. She described what she read in the Book of Mormon which was pretty good and she even remembered most of the names which was brilliant. We talked about the Holy Ghost and she was excited to read chapter 8 in 1 Nephi about the Tree of Life.

We had a fun busy moment of volunteering at Faces, then we went with B. Manry to his house to put solar panels on his roof. Fun. Then we went to make baptismal programs for Henry's baptism.  When we stopped to invite one of the Yankeys to be a witness, President Yankey told me that Henry postponed his baptism for Nov. 10th because he was going to a funeral that day and that just really threw me for the rest of the day. I won’t be here on November 10^th! 

The next day we were knocking on doors to contact an investigator and referral and all of a sudden Henry pops out of the laundry room so we talked with him and rescheduled it for October 26 so I could be there. It was awesome and totally a miracle from Heavenly Father to help this man all the way to baptism!  I was so happy that I’ll get to be there.

Not much for the rest of the week other than tracting and trying to contact people. We ran into an atheist and we taught the Restoration lesson twice on his doorstep till we found out he was an atheist which was awkward but we still counted it as a lesson because he was open to us coming back. We were asked at Faces who was the head Elder and I said I was so they made me the leader over the Faces handout Saturday morning because our church was in charge of it that day for the month. It was pretty easy aside from finding things to do for college kids that popped up. The people loved it and our members loved helping out. They kept making jokes about giving big cakes to people and it’s just craziness right there.

Yesterday our branch president, President Yankey, got released and now B. Ludgate the younger is the branch president. It’s been a crazy month for him with what’s been going on.  Later that night we carved pumpkins at a Methodist church and I carved Jesus saving Peter from the water when he was about to drown. Most people didn't know what it was, but I did the best I could. They were for the shut-ins in Farmville. That night Elder Martineau beat Elder Barlow twice at Magic and Elder Barlow just got super mad and was making lame excuses for why he lost. I had made a complex deck for him to use. Well that’s all for my second to last week and I'll be home soon so look for me in Idaho.

Love you all,

Elder McClure

High Bridge, Humorous Pictures, Transfers, Rain Walking, Magic and Getting Henry Dunked: October 14, 2013

Hello people,

The 2nd to last real email from Elder McClure so I'll make it worth your while. Last p-day we got together for a district p-day to play games at the chapel and walk the high bridge. We played like 3 rounds of Uno until the rain lightened up and the Buckingham elders got there. Same old same old with the bridge. We tried walking up to the vultures (they sit on the bridge all the time) really slowly to go touch them, but Elder Fish always scared them away so we couldn't get it done.  Then we took funny pictures of me and the other two Elders: E. Lundell and Hansen were taking a lot of posed pictures of their muscles. Also we threw rocks off the side into the river to see how far they would go.

The next day we tried to get appointments and clean the church but both fell thru so we tracted and tried to see people. The Burkeville Elders came up to do an exchange, to trade Elder Hansen for Elder Smith.  It took time for them to switch because the Chappells drove them up to switch in Buckingham. We also got to prepare Henry for baptism and give back-to-school blessings for the kids in a family.   

We cleaned the church the next day so we had fun doing that and setting chairs back up and we had a very long walk around in the rain. Some middle school girls were walking behind us and singing "Under my Umberella" and I started singing it to fit Elder Martineau's name in it. It was pretty funny.

We had transfers and we got our third comp., Elder Barlow, who’s a nice guy but plays a lot of Magic. Basically the rest of our week was walking long distances in the rain (a really nice misty rain going on) and talking to people.

On my 2 year mark, October 12, we went to Macados for dinner.  I got a Sherlock Holmes sandwich which was pretty good.  After dinner we got Henry interviewed for baptism. We brought Elder Mathia and Hansen with us and that made 5 elders with Henry which made him kind of nervous. But he passed. Awesome!!! Now we are getting ready for him to be baptized on the 19^th, this Saturday.  It will be my last baptism. Sorry for the shortness of this email but I have like 3 elders on my back to finish so we can go.

I love you all!

Elder McClure

Service Crazy Work, Deep Clean, Last Zone Meeting, Crazy Dre, and General Conference: October 7, 2013

This week was pretty big for me with service and spiritual experiences. We didn't do a whole lot for P-day but we did talk to this guy named Alex in the college housing about some of his questions.  He wanted to know about the Kingdoms of Glory so we discussed and described each one. Last time he tried to get out of seeing us but we made a point to come back. We also another appointment with Henry, but that fell through. He actually disappeared the whole week so I'll keep up with ya’ll on “Where’s Henry?”

We had a good amount of service this week.  We broke up some rotting walls that were piled on top of each other so we could find the good boards and the nails in them. This was a service project for B. Goodwin.  While we were there, we met one of his friends that he has helped get over his addictions and given a Book of Mormon to. We also did a deep clean of our apartment for the first Tuesday of the month and inspections were the next day so we made sure to do a good job and it looked a lot more empty. We also split logs for a member, Sister Seamster.  It took a lot of effort, using a splitting mal and a sledgehammer. I used the heavier one. We did the first bit dressed up and came back later in the week to split the rest.  We split like crazy to get the job done. I was going crazy at it to hear that good crack when you get it really nice in there. I got some gnarly blisters afterward and they still hurt now. Before and after splitting the wood, we helped out at Faces with lifting and getting bags full of food. It was a pretty intense day. I passed out that night.

We also had some good lessons with our investigators like Shirley.  We read the Book of Mormon with her so she will find more interest in it.  While we were reading, stink bugs were flying around above us and were just going crazy. It was funny seeing her smack them as hard as she could. We are teaching this guy named Dre. We went over and he was smoking and saying that he needs some religion so we can talk to him. Well, I started off with the Restoration, relating to him that the church has been restored. He cuts me off and tells us about a stream you go to after you die that is like limbo between heaven and hell. Really bizarre, but it got worse.  Then he says some of the angels hate us because we have souls and they have black hearts and black eyes and are really scary. He also told us that Satan now has an invisible car and he drives people over to tempt Dre to do bad things. Some weird stuff! We made a return appointment with him, too.  I wonder what that will be like. We also saw one of our investigators, Shawn, who had gotten out of jail on bail. He was so much more humble and had read to Jacob in the Book of Mormon which made me super happy.  I was also happy because he personally wanted to see us.

Also this week I was at my last zone meeting and they asked me to bear my final testimony. At first when I was speaking I made an old man impression because I was the oldest one there (of the missionaries). Then I got very emotional about how much my mission meant to me with all the blessings that have come to my family. I read the scripture that I had chosen for my plaque back home and it made more sense than just a scripture I had chosen. I was very glad that the out pouring of the spirit came from Heavenly Father to help me help others.

General Conference was probably the best thing of the week but like all day Saturday we were stuck in the Burkeville chapel instead of ours since we have no signal. It was really hot in there and it made it hard to stay comfortable and take notes of conference while we were in this heat that was making us sweat. We had fun with the Burkeville Elders while we were there. Before the first session, we got there earlier than them so we tried to break into the library to get the television so we could watch it. I tried picking it with two paper clips and also turning the handle with a paddle, but neither of those methods worked. It got opened properly with a key later. We really enjoyed conference even though there weren’t too many huge rebukes happening, especially from Elder Holland and Bednar. My favorite speaker other than President Monson is President Utchdorf. Funny thing is that the night of Saturday was Octoberfest for the college kids so we came home from watching conference to see kids drinking and walking around the streets drunk after we had been spiritually fed by the Prophet. Different world.

Well not much else to say but that you only have to wait another 3 weeks to see me. Love you all!

Elder McClure

 

Hard Hat Workers, Zone Conference, Blitzing, and Baptisms: September 30, 2013

I had a fun week which starts and continues with service, as usual.

On Monday our big service project happened.  The food pantry we often help at is called FACES (I don’t know what that stands for).  There are ramps to help handicapped people get in the front doors from the parking lot.  The ramps and one nearby part of the parking lot are super messed up and so it makes it hard for old or handicapped people to get into the food pantry.  Our service project was to help them by demolishing the old ramps and the one small area of the parking lot so new concrete can be poured for better ramps.  Our team (E. Chappell, E. Martineau, me, B. Manry, and the Ludgate father and son) started by tearing up the parking lot area, which was really easy since it was so damaged and had been laid badly in the first place. The ramps were concrete so we banged on them with sledgehammers and then used a jackhammer to get them destroyed.  It took a lot of work to get this done, but we finally got all the concrete up and heaved it into a pile.  After our work, Sister Chappell fed us delicious food.

The next day we had some set appointments with people like Rashad and Shirley, but not until the afternoon.  In the morning, we helped E. Chappell dig out the places for the new ramps so they would fill up better with cement.  We also cleaned up around that area.  When we were done, we left to get dressed to keep our appointments and what do you know, they fall through.  So - we changed again and went to help Elder Chappell pour the cement and smooth it out which was fun.  (Lucky me, I was wearing my p-day velcro pants). We didn't get too messy. After the concrete was finished, we walked the streets of downtown Farmville and handed out some pass along cards. It was fun. Then we got fed by these less active members, the Davis couple. It was a pretty awkward meal, but we did get to hear a lot about the family vacation they were on last week. After we left the Davis house, we got ahold of Henry again and had a lesson.

On Wednesday we had zone conference and we showed up a little late, but the Farmville branch missionaries are always fashionably late. The whole meeting was a lot of leadership training shoved into a time period of 9am to 4pm.  We speedily went over stuff we had already heard before.  We role played after each topic and sometimes I would remain silent so Elder Martineau would talk more. One of the funny role plays was E. Fish committing an investigator to come to Christ by having him get out of the chair and walk over to the picture of Christ. After the meeting it took us a while to get home so we went to the youth activity to make a small catapult which got diverted by my showing them how to juggle and also keeping a broom balanced on the tip of my finger.

On Thursday we basically got fed by members and caught up with Rashad to answer more of his questions. We also had some fun volunteering at the Faces Pantry where we sorted the food.  This lady named "Brenda" (don’t know her real name) was playing the funny antagonizing game about our church.  She kept saying funny stuff to me (Brad) and Elder Martineau (Bob) playing the game, “What is your mental condition?” It was weird.

On Friday we finally got our blitz for our area which was sweet. We got food from Cook Out and we all rode in the transfer van together to drop the Elders off at their spots. We placed them in random areas.  I stayed with Elder Hitesman and Nelson to go to this one area which was out there. We met some nice people and a couple of Jews as well. They are more prominent out here. It’s quite fun and we enjoy talking with some people. Now we have a bigger handful of people to go see in our area. Afterward, we got to eat at our branch president's house (Pres.Yankey). We ate pizza and they showed this video of "What does the fox say?" Interesting.

The great thing about Saturday was the baptism of the Ludgate couple (B. Ludgate's parents. It was a cool experience and it was very warm and awesome to see families coming closer under the gospel. Plus our mission president and his wife came and sat behind us so during the beginning, I look back and there is our mission president. Fun stuff! I also found out that another baptism was happening that day:  Tyesha in Lawrenceville whom I had taught a long time ago.  Her son Raquan baptized her – he had gotten baptized only 2 months earlier. That was sweet, too. We also were able to teach Henry by reading with him the Book of Mormon and geting him to come to church.

On Sunday we went to church fasting and hungry. Henry came and some other people for the sisters to teach. Testimonies were long and one member got up talking about being converted then went totally off subject recounting stories of his childhood. Gospel Principles was really funny because Willie Lee kept sounding his opinion. For example, how we are like the JWs and describing what televisions were like in his day and how old they were, etc.  The topic was on missionary work. Everyone was trying to keep a straight face, even the teacher, Eddy Hurt. Funny stuff. The Chappells did a missionary moment afterwards in the 3rd hour. For the rest of the day we ate at the Chappell’s and looked at old pictures of them. We made a map which took some doing and was a time consuming effort but it got done.

 Well, love you all and have fun!

Elder McClure

 

 

Fall Thru Appointments, Awesome Lady, Service, and Fun District Training: September 23, 2013

Hello those who rely on the correspondence I give,

Crazy week in Farmville. We had a couple of appointments last week that we were pretty pumped up for but they fell through due to weird circumstances. We had an appointment at a college apartment to teach some guys: Alex, Ryan, and some other guy.  It fell through, which was really disappointing. We had an appointment with Henry and he wasn't there. Between the appointment with the college guys and Henry, all the appointments we had set up the week before fell through.  We got into this cycle of playing stalker and going by our investigators’ places a couple of times to see how they were doing. One investigator named Shirley was also hard to pin down but she kept the appointment with us and it was a really good lesson.  As we taught her about the Restoration she said, “Why doesn’t everyone know about this?  Why are people still in the dark?”  She told us that she had wanted to be rebaptized into her old church - she was baptized into a church as a little girl, but when she was 30 years old she felt herself more committed to Christ and wanted to be rebaptized as a way to show this, but they wouldn't let her get rebaptized. We told her she can be baptized, but she would first have to come to know that the gospel we preach is true and then join the church after that knowledge. She’s a really nice lady.

On Wednesday we had district meeting in Farmville so everyone in the zone came up to our chapel to enjoy the fun there. I gave a training on commitments. After I trained on it, everyone was bored or quiet so we did a funny role play of having to commit your partner to do something like: "Will you adopt 300 cats? Will you wear your shirt inside out?” or “Will you make a blanket out of bacon?" Then we committed each other to baptism and practiced explaining why this was a big change and why it was important. Later that night we were with the young men for mutual and they were being taught how to cook with a microwave. I even ate some microwave cooked bacon. It was okay.

We had a big service day on Thursday.  We went to the food pantry twice to volunteer – we fill up bags with food that needy people can take home.  After working at the food pantry, we burned scrap wood at a member’s house, then put away books at the library and stuff like that. It was pretty entertaining for us and time consuming.

 On Friday we brought the Chappels with use to teach another lesson to Shirley to go over what we had just talked about the last time.  We got more questions out of her, which was good. Our other appointments fell through but our branch president came out with us and got us two big containers of ice cream. It was nice and now we have a lot of temptation in the fridge.

 Saturday was a fun/crazy day. We started out serving at the food pantry early in the morning.  On that day, we put the food in a cart then went out with the person to help load it in their car. We met one of the sister missionaries’ investigators named Dakota and she was clinging onto Sister Brunty like a best friend would and it was funny. Dakota called Elder Martineau “Elder Marshmallow” so that’s a funny nickname for him now. While we were pushing carts around there was a young woman that was funny but was also playing the devil’s advocate about our church. Like she was criticizing how we won’t drink coffee by saying, “Well, air is also addictive.” I told her my first name and she said she would call me Brad. She didn't believe that I could juggle so I got a few potatoes and one upped her by juggling them. Everyone was amused that I was juggling and stopped for a second to watch. It was entertaining. We got free strawberries from the food pantry and then went to Richmond so Elder Martineau could fill out a form.  We tried to see people for the rest of the day.

 Sunday was good and we were able to get Henry to church. We visited with him after church and taught him the 10 Commandments.  Between our conversation of each commandment, he would ramble about his childhood and stuff but he is making progress toward geting baptized.

 Love you all!

Elder McClure

Lots of Lessons and Service, Mustaches, Talking to College Kids, and Rambling Henry: September 16, 2013

This week was better compared to last week. We were able to get a lot done.

On Monday we had some fun doing pottery and getting messy then had to rush to get home to have the Chappells take us to go shopping.  Then we had to go teach George, then went to email, and it was a pretty exhausting day biking up and down hills so we could do what we wanted. It was fun though. Just killed my calves.

Tuesday was a bizarre day since the sister missionaries and Sister Chappell took the senior ‘s car to go to a Sisters Meeting in Richmond.  We and Elder Chappell borrowed about 3 different cars to get around. We went to go to pick up and burn wood at a less active’s house. The first vehicle we borrowed to do the service work was a truck and the fan belt broke.  We had to borrow another car to go get a new belt and also go to teach some appointments (which fell through).  Once the new belt got put on the truck, we got it back to get wood from someone else.  We loaded it later split it while wearing our proselyting clothes and surprisingly we didn't get dirty. We then had to borrow another car to get dropped off at Robert’s house. He wasn't drunk this time and was good and sober. However, his conversation was a little odd.  He talked about how the college girls were all clones since they seem too much alike. He also shared some conspiracy theories and talked about guns. Robert told us, after we asked him about coming back to the church, that he will not go back because of the memories and other things. He said he won’t pray or read scriptures either. He’s a good guy though.

We had district meeting and what happens before is called zone portion where the zone leaders will tell us what’s up and what to do. One thing that week was a big contest to see who could get the most investigators.  President Wilson said he would do splits or tract or companionship study with them. I didn't care much for this idea because it sounds like just a big game and I want to find people to strengthen our area, not try to impress a mission president.

During the last zone meeting, one of the sisters made a comment that we should wear mustaches and ask the question, "How mustache you know your Savior?"  So this district meeting I wore a cheap mustache held on by tape and used mustache puns after the meeting. It was funny. Going home after the meeting was pretty hard cuz it makes Elder Martineau tired to make the long ride back and when he’s tired that makes it hard to work. Later that night we played bowling with the youth, Elder Chappell, and B. Boyle so it was a good game.

Thursday was mainly service.  In the morning we went to the food pantry to stack food and sort things and get ready for the afternoon. We got free eclairs out of it and got to talk with some of the owners. B. Manry went with us.  Later, he also went with us and B. Chappell to go burn more wood at B. Goodwin’s and lift stuff. It was hot!  I was finally able to get all the wood out of the tall grass and into a pile.  Afterward, we taught a lady named Mary who believes in everything we do, but goes to another church and it’s annoying. Then we did the afternoon part of the service at the food pantry. We got there and the other Farmville missionaries were there in service clothes and we were all dressed up. It was funny.  The guy in charge said it would be better if everyone would go down the line and put food in the bags themselves, but I took charge and formed the cycle way of doing it like I saw them doing in a food pantry last year. It went by pretty fast and was really fun. We got to talk to some college kids while doing it.

Friday was weekly planning and service.  One service project was putting a ton of books away at the library. It was a big stack turned in by one lady because there is no limit here. Too many books!  Mainly children’s books.  The cool thing was by the end of the day the zone leaders came to help us find investigators in this apartment complex called Sunchase which has a lot of college kids in it. Usually that leads to rejection but we were able to find a few. Elder Hitesman and I went to one side and on our second door ran across this guy named Marty. He’s an older guy and told us after we asked for his religious background that he does big jumps from church to church. He even let us in his house - he told us that we were the only other people to enter his house for a year, like not even his wife is allowed in. It was pretty cool. Elder Martineau and Kennedy got rejection and some interested people.  One was Sam, a college girl.  Her Mormon boyfriend was there that night so they were able to teach her and also a group of college guys that we are meeting tonight. It was pretty cool!  We went to Cook Out and played Bang! at home.

Friday was slow since we hung out a little too long with the zone leaders before they left. We tracted again at Sunchase and got a lot of awkward looks.  We met a lot of Catholics who were not interested, but we got a few potentials from it.  We were finally able to get a hold of Henry (who had a baptismal date when I first got here) and we talked with him. He’s older, like 84 years old. We tried to teach him the Law of Chastity but he went off about the government and some other kinds of things.  Elder Martineau was zoning out half the time and not talking so I was trying hard to get him on track. We set a baptismal date for him for the 12th of October which was the exact day I entered the MTC a year ago. Pretty crazy stuff, right?  Time flies!

Sunday was funny mainly because of all the characters in Gospel Principles who talk a lot and have funny rambling things to say. Henry came to church and he sat next to me in Gospel Principles. We were able to get more dinner appointments after S. Gavillan pointed it out and people coming out with us on splits were going to feed us before the appointment. After church we went to go see people in the unknown section of the area book. One guy named Brent was a former pastor and wasn't interested but he gave me a book called "Eagle in the Sky" since I told him I wanted to go to medical school.  The book is about doctors in the Civil War. Elder Martineau said a prayer really slow and halfway through it Brent said, “Amen!” Later the Chappells fed us and I like it when people feed us because I get to know more about them.

Well that’s it for this week and love you all.

Elder McClure 

Lessons with Investigators, Drunk Less Active, Service, Wacky Things: September 9, 2013

Farmville....fun, fun, fun in the sun!

This week has been a pick-up week from last week and Elder Martineau's previous transfer. We’re on bikes in this area so we get to ride around all day and have fun going fast down hills.

Wednesday was a fun day to begin with. We had fun doing service for the library by putting some books on the shelves and afterward we got to ride around with Elder Chappell to see some people like less actives in the branch. We also had the opportunity to meet a guy named Robert. He is a less active college student at Longwood and while we were talking with him, he was getting the most drunk he could while talking with us about how he fell away and what started that process. He was very coherent the whole time, so it was funny.  In the end he told us he had gotten drunk to see what our reaction to it would be and also because he hadn't gotten seriously drunk in a while. He was drinking Everclear which is like the strongest stuff around here. It was crazy. We also got to have dinner at the church with an awesome member and that ended the day.

The next day we got to do service for a member named B. Goodwin.  We cleaned out his backyard and burned old wood and moved old metal. He showed us his cool gun collection and a bunch of Civil War bullets that he had found with his metal detector. It’s funny that they are white instead of grey or some other color. It was pretty cool. This week we also got to do some service for Sister Seamster by cutting up a tree for her and carrying the logs around.  We had fun with the ax chopping the limbs off some of the trees. We also did service for this food bank with a bunch of college kids filling up bags and setting them up for the following Saturday to give out.  We had to load a van and this kid was calling out the number in a southern accent. It was pretty funny.

Mainly the people we taught this week were Tina, Arlene, Mary S., and Shawn. Mary and Arlene are stubborn old ladies sticking to their old ways. I had even asked Arlene what she would do if she found out that this church is true and she said, “Just accept me for the way that I am.” We have also been setting up appointments with the other investigators.

We did find this lady when we were tracting.  She had gone inside her house right before we knocked, so it seemed awkward but by knocking anyways we got a return appointment for the next week so we were super excited for that.

We also had zone meeting and that was pretty fun talking with the other Elders. One of them was actually bad mouthing Idaho and asking me what there was to do there. He was a punk and those elders are the worst. I don’t like punks. We had fun after the meeting trying to see people and doing things in Farmville. It’s been fun biking except for going up a lot of hills and having no mail.  I know I’m coming home soon, but I would really enjoy some letters!  Hint, hint! 

Well have fun everyone and I’ll be more detailed next time.

Elder McClure